Editing Pear (section)

== Description ==
[[File:Pear's morphology.svg|thumb|Pear's morphology]]
[[File:PearBlossomsCalifornia.jpg|thumb|Pear blossoms|left]]

The pear is [[native plant|native]] to coastal, temperate, and mountainous region, It is found from Western Europe and North Africa east across Asia.<ref name=":0">{{Citation |last1=Bell |first1=Richard L. |title=Pyrus |date=2011 |work=Wild Crop Relatives: Genomic and Breeding Resources |pages=147–177 |editor-last=Kole |editor-first=Chittaranjan |url=https://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-3-642-16057-8_8 |access-date=2024-06-07 |place=Berlin, Heidelberg |publisher=Springer Berlin Heidelberg |doi=10.1007/978-3-642-16057-8_8 |isbn=978-3-642-16056-1 |last2=Itai |first2=Akihiro|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=Fruit breeding |date=1996 |publisher=Wiley |isbn=978-0-471-12675-1 |editor-last=Janick |editor-first=Jules |location=New York |editor-last2=Moore |editor-first2=James N.}}</ref> They are medium-sized trees, reaching up to 20 m tall, often with a tall, narrow crown; a few pear species are [[shrub]]by.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Pyrus communis - Plant Finder |url=https://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?taxonid=286400 |access-date=2024-06-07 |website=www.missouribotanicalgarden.org}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Citation |last1=Quinet |first1=Muriel |title=Botany and Taxonomy of Pear |date=2019 |work=The Pear Genome |pages=1–33 |editor-last=Korban |editor-first=Schuyler S. |url=https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11048-2_1 |access-date=2024-06-07 |place=Cham |publisher=Springer International Publishing |doi=10.1007/978-3-030-11048-2_1 |isbn=978-3-030-11048-2 |last2=Wesel |first2=Jean-Pierre|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

The [[leaf|leaves]] are alternately arranged, simple, {{convert|2|–|12|cm|in|frac=2|abbr=on}} long, glossy green on some species, densely silvery-hairy in some others; leaf shape varies from broad oval to narrow lanceolate.<ref name=":2" /> Most pears are [[deciduous]], but one or two species in Southeast Asia are [[evergreen]].<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":4">{{Cite journal |last=Rubtsov |first=G. A. |date=July 1944 |title=Geographical Distribution of the Genus Pyrus and Trends and Factors in Its Evolution |url=https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/281206 |journal=The American Naturalist |volume=78 |issue=777 |pages=358–366 |doi=10.1086/281206 |bibcode=1944ANat...78..358R |issn=0003-0147|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Some pears are cold-hardy, withstanding temperatures as low as {{convert|−25|to|-40|C|F}} in winter, but many grown for agriculture are vulnerable to cold damage.<ref name=":0"/><ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last1=Hedrick |first1=U.P. |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/46994/46994-h/46994-h.htm |title=The Pears of New York |last2=Howe |first2=G.H. |last3=Taylor |first3=O.M. |last4=Frances |first4=E.H. |last5=Tukey |first5=H.B. |publisher=J. B. Lyon Co |year=1921 |location=Albany}}</ref> Evergreen species only tolerate temperatures down to about {{convert|-12|C|F}}.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Evergreen Pear - SelecTree: A Tree Selection Guide |url=https://selectree.calpoly.edu/tree-detail/1222 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240418015036/https://selectree.calpoly.edu/tree-detail/1222 |archive-date=2024-04-18 |access-date=2024-06-07 |website=selectree.calpoly.edu}}</ref>

The [[flower]]s are white, rarely tinted yellow or pink, {{convert|2|–|4|cm|in|frac=2}} diameter, and have five [[petal]]s, five [[sepals]], and numerous [[stamen]]s.<ref name=":2" /><ref name="pearfruit">[https://web.archive.org/web/20100916180243/http://bouquetoffruits.com/fruit-facts/pear-facts.html Pear Fruit Facts Page Information]. bouquetoffruits.com</ref> Like that of the related [[apple]], the pear fruit is a [[pome]], in most wild species {{convert|1|–|4|cm|in|frac=2|abbr=on}} diameter, but in some cultivated forms up to {{convert|18|cm|in|frac=2|abbr=on}} long and {{convert|9|cm|in|frac=2|abbr=on}} broad.<ref name=":2" /> The shape varies in most species from oblate or globose, to the classic pyriform "[[Female body shape|pear shape]]" of the [[European pear]] with an elongated basal portion and a bulbous end.<ref name=":3" />

The fruit is a [[Accessory fruit|pseudofruit]] composed of the receptacle or upper end of the flower stalk (the so-called [[calyx (botany)|calyx]] tube) greatly dilated.<ref name=":2" /> Enclosed within its cellular flesh is the true fruit: 2–5 '[[Cartilage#Plants and fungi|cartilaginous]]' [[carpels]],<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=Pyrus in Flora of North America @ efloras.org |url=http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=127801 |access-date=2024-06-07 |website=www.efloras.org}}</ref> known colloquially as the "core".<ref name=":2" />
[[File:زنبور و شکوفه گلابی.jpg|thumb|A bee pollinating on a pear tree blossom]]
Pears and apples cannot always be distinguished by the form of the fruit;<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/newwernertwenti01unkngoog|page=[https://archive.org/details/newwernertwenti01unkngoog/page/n475 456]|title=The New Werner Twentieth Century Edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica: A Standard Work of Reference in Art, Literature, Science, History, Geography, Commerce, Biography, Discovery and Invention|date=1907|publisher=Werner Company}}</ref> some pears look very much like some apples, e.g. the [[Pyrus pyrifolia|nashi pear]].<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Nelson |first=John |title=Spring blooming Asian pear looks much like an apple {{!}} Mystery Plant |url=https://www.tallahassee.com/story/life/home-garden/2022/02/10/fruit-asian-pear-more-delicate-than-apples/6734615001/ |access-date=2024-06-07 |website=Tallahassee Democrat }}</ref>